Witchy Kitchen

Tag: soup

  • Three Course Witchy Menu

    Three Course Witchy Menu

    Put on your aprons and fire up your cauldrons, because this month’s edition of Witchy Kitchen is going full witch with an enchanting three-course menu, so mote it be.

    For our first course, we are drawing inspiration from 2015’s The Witch, which has already become a modern classic. Written and directed by Robert Eggers and featuring a lovely and innocent performance from Anya Taylor-Joy as Thomasin, the film is meticulously authentic to colonial times so a colonial-inspired dish seemed apt. These biscuits are rustic, with apples that feature prominently in the film. Bonus, if you want to get extra witchy they double as altar cakes. Would you like the taste of butter? Would you like to live deliciously? Then whip up the accompanying goat cheese butter to serve.

    The Witch Apple Cheddar Biscuits with Goat Cheese Butter

    For the biscuits
    5 tablespoons butter, divided (freeze and grate 4 tablespoons, reserve 1 for cooking)
    1 1/2 cups flour
    1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
    2 teaspoons baking powder
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1/4 teaspoon black pepper
    4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated
    1/2 a large Granny Smith apple, grated
    2 tablespoons chopped chives
    1/2 cup milk
    1 egg, beaten

    Heat oven to 400º. Meanwhile heat 1 tablespoon butter in a cast-iron skillet on medium heat, swirling to coat. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, pepper, cheddar cheese, apple, chives, and butter. Combine milk and egg and add to the flour mixture, stirring until just combined (don’t overmix). In the skillet, drop 8 even sized dollops of the mixture, forming them into rounds and pushing down slightly to biscuit shapes. Cook on the stovetop for 5 minutes, then transfer to the oven for 18-20 minutes to cook until golden.

    For the goat cheese butter
    4 ounces goat cheese, room temperature
    4 ounces butter, room temperature
    2 tablespoons honey
    pinch salt

    Whip together and serve with biscuits.

    Our main course is inspired by the 1960 gothic horror directed by Mario Bava, Black Sunday. It takes place in Romania, which may very well be the witchiest place on earth. Barbara Steele plays both the doomed witch Princess Asa as well as her descendent Katia, who the witch comes back to drain of her youth and beauty in hopes of immortality. This is a Romanian dish called ciorba de perisoare, a meatball soup that is as sour as revenge. It’s also full of herbs perfect for youth and beauty spells, reciting incantations as you sprinkle them in is encouraged.

    Black Sunday Romanian Sour Soup

    For the meatballs
    8 ounces ground chicken
    3/4 teaspoon salt
    few grinds black pepper
    1/2 an onion, grated
    1/4 cup cooked rice
    1 egg
    1/2 cup breadcrumbs

    Thoroughly combine all ingredients and shape into 1-inch meatballs. Reserve in the fridge until time to cook.

    For the soup
    3 tablespoons olive oil
    1/2 an onion, finely chopped
    1 red pepper, finely chopped
    2 ribs celery, finely chopped
    2 carrots, finely chopped
    3 tablespoons tomato paste
    1 tablespoon paprika
    6 cups chicken broth
    2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
    2 tablespoons lovage, chopped (optional if you have trouble finding it)
    2 tablespoons lemon juice

    In a large pot heat olive oil on medium heat and cook onion, red pepper, celery, and carrots, stirring often, until onion is very soft and translucent. Stir in tomato paste and paprika and cook, stirring, until tomato paste is starting to caramelize. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Drop in the prepared meatballs, lower heat, and simmer for 15-20 minutes until cooked through. Add parsley, lovage, and lemon juice and cook 5 minutes more. Serve hot.

    The 90s were a wicked time for witch movies, so dessert is inspired by 1998’s Practical Magic. Directed by Giffin Dunne and starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as witchy sisters, there is a fabulous scene featuring midnight margaritas. The batty aunties conjure up a batch, and a delightful dance-around-the-kitchen party gradually descends into an entranced madness. These flourless chocolate cupcakes (adapted from a recipe from Smitten Kitchen) are kissed with lime and as dark as midnight, and the lovely floaty margarita cream is hypnotic, the perfect end to a bewitching meal.

    For the margarita whipped cream
    1/4 cup powdered sugar
    1 teaspoon lime zest
    2 teaspoons tequila
    2 teaspoons cointreau
    1/2 cup heavy cream

    Stir together sugar, lime zest, tequila and cointreau. Add heavy cream and whip to a soft but firm consistency. Dollop onto cupcakes.

    Set your table, light your candles, and enjoy a witchy meal.

    First published on Nightmare on Film Street.

  • Pozole Verde

    Pozole Verde

    The Curse of La Llorona, from New Line Cinema and director Michael Chaves, came screeching into theaters this Friday. It stars Linda Cardellini and Patricia Velazquez, two mothers troubled in different ways, and haunted by the wailing, weeping woman of Mexican folklore.

    The legend of La Llorona that the film is based on is equal parts heartbreaking and terrifying. There are several variations, but the basic story is that a poor and beautiful woman was discovered by a wealthy nobleman as he came through her village. He took her as his wife and they had two sons, but as he traveled he grew further apart from her and eventually he left her alone for a younger woman. She was driven mad by the betrayal, and in a blind rage drowned her sons in a river.

    When she realized what she had done the river had washed them away. Not permitted to enter heaven without her sons, she was cursed to wander watersides as a lonely ghost, crying for her children, and kidnapping and drowning children she mistakes for her own. This myth is a mother’s worst nightmare…but also falls into that category of terrifying Bogeyman tales to tell your children to get them to behave.   

    The legend is bleak, but this recipe is bright, a Mexican pozole verde. With a base of hearty hominy, most often pozole is made with pork, but I went to the waters for this La Llorna inspired one and used shrimp (creek shrimp would be especially apt if you can find it). I love the technique of using shrimp shells to make a briny broth, so that’s done here. The poblano mixture flavored with garlic, cumin, coriander and oregano makes the broth a watery green, and the strings of spinach evoke underwater plants as the ghost is known to scrape the bottoms of rivers and lakes, desperately looking for her children.

    This swampy mixture is a flavorful blank slate for toppings such as avocado, radishes, tostadas, and lime. You can make is spicy by including peppers like jalapeños or serranos in the poblano pepper mixture, but since I was cooking for children (also apt!) I left out the spicy ones and just served with hot sauce on the side.

    LA LLORONA POZOLE VERDE

    • 2 poblano peppers
    • 2 jalapeños or serranos (optional – I left them out to serve kids)
    • 1 pound shrimp
    • 2 tablespoons oil
    • 1 onion, diced
    • 3 cloves garlic, grated
    • 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 1 25 ounce can hominy, rinsed
    • 10 ounces chopped spinach
      3 strands fresh oregano, roughly chopped

    To serve: avocado, sliced radish, crushed tostadas, limes, hot sauce

    Char poblanos (and optionally jalapeños or serranos) in a 450° oven. I do this by putting the poblanos right on the grate with a sheet pan below it and turn occasionally until evenly charred. If I’m doing the smaller peppers I’ll put them on aluminum foil so they don’t fall through. The little ones won’t take as long to char, so just check as they are cooking. Peel and deseed poblanos and add them, and trimmed jalapeños or serranos if using, to a food processor and blend until smooth, adding a little water if necessary.

    Meanwhile, rinse and peel the shrimp, reserving shells. In a saucepan, boil shrimp shells with 3 cups water for half an hour to create a shrimpy broth. Drain and reserve the broth, adding enough water to get it back up to three cups.

    In a soup pot, heat oil on medium and cook onion until translucent and beginning to turn golden. Add garlic and stir for a minute or two, then cumin, coriander, and salt and stir until fragrant. Add the shrimp broth, the pepper mixture, and the hominy and simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, and adding more water if necessary to keep a somewhat thick somewhat brothy consistency. Stir in shrimp and cook until they just turn pink. Stir in spinach and oregano and cook for another few minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

    Serve with garnishes. Enjoy, but keep an eye on those children.

    First published on Nightmare on Film Street.

  • Violet Beauregarde-inspired Three Course Dinner

    #FFDahlicious is a month for tasty eats inspired by Roald Dahl hosted by Katarina @ Pretty Cake Machine. Check the hashtag or the link up for lots of Dahl-inspired dishes.

    Violet Beauregarde, the gum-smacking, slang-slinging, disobedient daughter of a car salesman, is the second child to meet her demise in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, but not before enjoying a lovely three course meal in the form of gum. 

    Before she’s rolled away to be juiced, she enjoys tomato soup, roast beef with a baked potato, and then the cause of her downfall: blueberry pie. 

    Without Willy Wonka’s assistance, I was unable to create this gum exactly as it was described (probably a good thing), but I did create the meal that inspired it! This tomato soup was completely simple, yet fabulous thanks to the slow roasted tomatoes, it had become my go-to recipe. The roast beef was nicely cooked with a red wine gravy. And the blueberry pies were miniature with an almond crust, a sweet bite at the end of a lovely meal. Don’t feel bad for Violet, all in all it’s not a bad way to go.

    Violet Beauregarde’s Three Course Dinner


    Tomato Soup

    • 2 pounds roma tomatoes, cut into thick slices
    • 1 head garlic
    • 1/2 an onion, sliced
    • olive oil, salt & pepper
    • 5 cups chicken broth (homemade and flavorful if possible, I made mine from the bones of an Arabic style roast chicken)
    • cream to garnish
    Heat oven to 350°. Toss tomatoes with a good amount of olive oil, salt and pepper, and spread in a single layer on a baking sheet (or two if you don’t have a very large one). In another baking dish, toss the onions with olive oil, salt and pepper. Cut the top off a head of garlic and wrap it in foil, drizzled with a little olive oil. Put everything in the oven. Bake, flipping the tomatoes every half hour and stirring the onions once in awhile, until tomatoes are cooked and caramelizing and onion is golden (tomatoes will take about an hour and a half, onions probably only a half hour – check and make sure not to burn). Leave garlic in until roasted and soft, an hour to an hour and a half. Puree tomatoes, onions, and garlic in a blender with a little chicken broth, then pour into a pot. Stir in the rest of the chicken broth, adjusting seasoning if necessary, and gently heat, slowly simmering for 15 minutes or so. Serve hot with a little cream for garnish.

    Roast Beef

    I shall direct you to Simply Recipes, whose detailed method I followed pretty much exactly, including making the red wine gravy.

    (Mini) Blueberry Pie (with almond crust)

    For the crust
    • 2 cups almond flour
    • 2 tablespoons butter
    • 1 egg
    • good pinch salt
    Blitz together almond flour and butter in a food processor, then blitz in egg and salt. Press into a prepared mini muffin tin and bake (before filling) at 350° for 8 minutes. For the filling I made this lightly sweetened, still very tart. You can increase the amount of honey to 1/2 cup if you’d like.
    • 1 pint blueberries
    • 1/4 cup honey
    • pinch salt
    • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
    In a small saucepan, heat half the blueberries with honey and salt. Mix cornstarch in 1/4 cup of water and add to the saucepan, stirring until blueberries are broken down and mixture is thick. Remove from heat, and stir remaining blueberries into the mixture. Spoon into the crusts in the mini muffin tin and bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Cool in the muffin tin before removing.

    Recipe for Fiction Kitchen Episode 21: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in which Carrie and Diana talk the book and movies, including awful and/or bland children, mint sugar grass production techniques, wistful buttercup sipping, questionable treatment of animals and small humans, a little chocolate and a lot of vegetables.

  • Gollum Stew

    Gollum Stew

    It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
    Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
    It lies behind stars and under hills,
    And empty holes it fills.
    It comes first, and follows after,
    Ends life, kills laughter.

    In honor of Hobbit Day (September 22), the Fandom Foodies theme of the month is The Hobbit, hosted by In Literature. Use #HobbitMonth to find lots of Hobbit-themed dishes this month!

    My favorite vignette from The Hobbit is Riddles in the Dark, where Bilbo encounters the precioussss, slimy Gollum and they play a game of riddles, during which Gollum decides whether or not he wants to eat the little hobbit that has wandered into his lair. It’s a delightfully creepy scene, and as I was also an obnoxious, smartypants kid, the cleverness of it was fun for me.

    Though it’s said that Gollum subsists on fishes and the odd goblin that gets lost in his cave, I started dreaming of what other slimy, swampy food might be available. I put together this stew, seaweed steeped in a lovely broth rich with sweetness and umami, with earthy mushrooms and watery lotus root. Lest it veer too far into Asian territory, I flavored it with ginger, peppercorns, and clove reminiscent of Medieval Europe’s ubiquitous savory spice mix poudre fort. If Gollum gets hungry and tired of fishes, this stew is a slurpy alternative.

    Gollum Stew

    For the broth

    Slightly adapted from Bon Appetit’s Vegan Umami Broth

    • 3 tablespoons white miso
    • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
    • 2 onions, thinly sliced, skins reserved
    • 1 carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
    • 1 celery stalk, thinkly sliced
    • 1 head garlic, halved
    • 8 dried shitake mushrooms
    • 4 6×4 pieces kombu
    • 1 tablespoon peppercorns
    • 6 cloves
    • 2 slices ginger

    Heat oven to 300° Whisk together miso, vegetable oil, and 2 tablespoons water. On a baking sheet, toss onions, carrots, celery, garlic, shitake mushrooms, and kombu with the miso mixture and arrange in a single layer. Bake for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours until caramelized.

    Transfer vegetables to a pot with 4 quarts cold water, peppercorns, cloves, and ginger. Simmer for about an hour and strain.

    For the stew

    • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
    • 8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, sliced
    • 6 ounces lotus root (about half a lotus root, I used a package of slices), peeled, halved, and sliced
    • 2 green onions, whites and greens divided and sliced
    • 1 ounce dried wakame seaweed, cut or broken into long strips
    • vegetable broth (see above)
    • salt and white pepper to taste

    In a pot, heat the vegetable oil, and cook the mushrooms until liquid is released but before they brown. Add lotus root, green onions, and white pepper and cook until onions are wilted. Add seaweed and about 3 cups vegetable broth (more if you’d like a soupier consistency). Cook on a low simmer for about 15 minutes, check seasoning, and serve hot or warm garnished with green onion.